Denver Post: Rockies should deal Troy Tulowitzki to the St. Louis Cardinals

After two years of the Denver media repeatedly shooting down rumors that the St. Louis Cardinals would trade for Colorado Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, the Denver Post said Sunday that now would be a good time to deal the Colorado Rockies star. And that the Redbirds would be Colorado's best trade partner.

The report confirms rumors that the Cardinals hotly pursued Tulowitzki over the off-season, offering Shelby Miller, Matt Adams and a prospect. Apparently, the Rockies turned that offer down.

While the article speculates that a deal for Tulowitzki won't happen until the off-season, it says that both the player and the team seem to realize it's time to move on. Tulo is quoted as saying that he wants to play for a team that has a chance to win every year. The Rockies are in rebuilding mode and can't offer that opportunity. Meanwhile, ownership begrudgingly admits paying Tulowitzki a huge chunk of its payroll not to contend might be a mistake.

I disagree with the timing element. Tulowitzki, 29, has $118 million left on his contract after this season. If the Cardinals are going to take on all -- or a large part of that commitment -- they need to get as much out of Tulo as possible. In short, they need him to try to help the offense this year. not to write off the rest of the 2014 season and save their trading chips until the winter. As Tulowitzki ages -- and gets more expensive -- the deal gets less and less palatable.

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Truthfully, after the Redbirds were unable to strike a deal over the winter for Tulowitzki, I was pretty much over this potential deal. Sure, he's a great player. But the Rockies are demanding a king's ransom for Tulowitzki's declining years after they got his best and cheapest seasons.

If I was the Cardinals general manager, I would be tempted to offer less than the Miller, Adams and a prospect proposal of the winter. Or at least I would make the Rockies pay a considerable amount of Tulo's remaining contract.

And either Colorado would have to take Jhonny Peralta and his contract or else the Birds might as well ship them Kolten Wong as part of the deal because they're going to have to move Peralta to third base and Matt Carpenter back to second to make room at shortstop.